GPSs and rechargeable batteries

[dzavetsky]

Do NiMH recahrgeables last as long as alkalines??

 

I bought a charger that came with off-brand rechargeable 1800mah batteries. I am using these right now and havent tried the Energizer NiMHs that I bought yet.

 

I noticed that the V's battery level showed not quite full when I put them in for the first time, and I am now getting the "low battery" warning after only 15 hours (and that assumes that the battery timer resest when new batts are put in...is it??)....

 

Do rechargeables take a full cycle to be at full power like some NiCDs and lithiums??

 

Now, I did use backlinght in the morning a couple days but only when instructions popped up.....

 

WOW! Looks like I need to run power on my motorcycle! This beast is HUNGRY!

[+Rattlehead]

Yes, NiMH batteries require a couple recharge cycles before they reach their full capacity. As to the GPS's battery meter, my Magellan Meridian Gold does not show a full battery meter when using NiMH batteries. This is because the rechargeable batteries are 1.2 volts, whereas the battery meter is designed for 1.5v alkaline batteries. Some GPS units let you adjust the battery meter for either alkaline or rechargeable batteries.

[dzavetsky]

Thanks! That is great news...my unit has a setting to change it....

 

DZ

[+Rubberhead]

The Legend and Vista have settings for NiMH batteries.

 

I have eight 1800 mAh and just purchased four 2100 mAh batteries. All Energizers.

 

The 1800's don't show a full charge even when NiMH is selected but the 2100's do.

 

I don't get as much out of the 1800's as I do Alkalines in the GPS but they last much longer than alkalines in my digital camera (HP 318). Go Figure...?

 

Ducks - Flying, great tasting, geocaches of meat

[kb9nvh]

Yep, there a setting for NIMH that should give you a full reading when the batteies are fresh.

 

I think you do loose some "run time" with my 1800 but the ability to recharge is worth it...

[+WARTIDE]

I just bought some NiMH batteries for my Garmin V. I've changed the battery type in the settings. My question is, does the GPS unit act as a charger when the cig. lighter adapter is is feeding power to it?

[dzavetsky]

I dont think so.....

 

Too bad Garmin doesnt make a lithium battery, liek a cell phone.....power is going to it, should be easy enough to make it chargeable....if they can squeeze that capability into a cell phone, why not a GPS??

 

DZ

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by chiro:

I just bought some NiMH batteries for my Garmin V. I've changed the battery type in the settings. My question is, does the GPS unit act as a charger when the cig. lighter adapter is is feeding power to it?

---

[+Brainerd]

To get the rated '20+' hours from the V, you will need to turn off the waas, don't use the backlight, and run it in battery saver mode. Probably fine for driving, but that accuracy is very helpful when caching. I have some Lenmar 2000 mah and they give me about 18-20 hours, with some backlight use. Lenmar also just came out with a 2300 mah NiMH. I also am using the Lenmar Mach 1 one hour charger. It doesn't heat the batteries (bad for battery life), and does a nice quick job. The charger also has an adapter for the car, so you can recharge the batteries while you are away from home.

 

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

[+Prime Suspect]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Brainerd:

I have some Lenmar 2000 mah and they give me about 18-20 hours, with some backlight use. Lenmar also just came out with a 2300 mah NiMH.

---

I've used the Lenmar 2000 mAh batteries, and they're great. Went caching from about 10am to 8pm last Saturday, and at the end of the day, the meter was still half full. They're also slightly bigger than the Ray-o-vacs I've been using, which makes for a tight fit in the Vista. I use my Ray-o-vac 1-hr charger on them, with no problems.

 

"Don't mess with a geocacher. We know all the best places to hide a body."

[peter]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dzavetsky:

Too bad Garmin doesnt make a lithium battery, liek a cell phone.....power is going to it, should be easy enough to make it chargeable....if they can squeeze that capability into a cell phone, why not a GPS??

---

 

Yes, it's easy enough to do, but I hope they don't. I find it much more convenient when electronic devices use standard cells rather than proprietary Lithium batteries. When I go on a trip I carry along my camera, GPS, flashlight, PDA. All run on AA cells, so if I run out it's usually easy to find replacements and in a pinch I can swap between devices. If I'm trying to find my way then I'm willing to forgo taking pictures for awhile in order to run the GPS.

I keep a NiMH charger in the car and at home so I always have a supply of charged AA cells. With proprietary (and expensive) Lithium battery packs each unit needs its own charger, I can't buy replacements in most towns, and I can't swap between units.

[+trippy1976]

I get great life out of energizer 1850mAh batteries as well as the much cheaper EverReady ones I bought. I can get about 12 hours off one charge which is fine by me. I invested in an hour charger too, so even in the car I can charge up dead cells in an hour if need be. I've saved a lot on batteries since switching.

 

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Assimilating golf balls - one geocache at a time.

[dzavetsky]

Actually, it can be done both ways.

 

I have a Kodak digital camera that will do either lithium non rechargeable AAs (easy to find in any kmart or the rechargeable ones that Kodak makes....SO I carry a set of the Lithiums "in case" and two of the rechargeable batteries....

 

I never run out of power for the camera before I can get to some AC to recharge in 45 minutes or so....

 

The V needs this kind of option.....especially since it is SO power hungry....

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by peter:

quote:

---

Originally posted by dzavetsky:

Too bad Garmin doesnt make a lithium battery, liek a cell phone.....power is going to it, should be easy enough to make it chargeable....if they can squeeze that capability into a cell phone, why not a GPS??

---

 

Yes, it's easy enough to do, but I hope they don't. I find it much more convenient when electronic devices use standard cells rather than proprietary Lithium batteries. When I go on a trip I carry along my camera, GPS, flashlight, PDA. All run on AA cells, so if I run out it's usually easy to find replacements and in a pinch I can swap between devices. If I'm trying to find my way then I'm willing to forgo taking pictures for awhile in order to run the GPS.

I keep a NiMH charger in the car and at home so I always have a supply of charged AA cells. With proprietary (and expensive) Lithium battery packs each unit needs its own charger, I can't buy replacements in most towns, and I can't swap between units.

---

[+Brainerd]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Prime Suspect:

[ I use my Ray-o-vac 1-hr charger on them, with no problems.

 

---

 

I had one of the 1st Ray-o-vac one-hour charger. It worked well, but it did heat the batteries during the charge cycle. The higher capacity NiMH's would get quite hot. This will reduce the number of charges that a battery can handle. If you are in the market for a new charger, check to see that it does not heat the batteries during the charge cycle. The Lenmar one does not.

[+Lone Duck]

I just got one of those Ray-O-Vac one hour chargers this week. I love how quickly it will recharge the batteries! It does heat them up, but any charger I've had heats up batteries anyway. I don't think it's any worse than using a slower rated charger. One nice added feature with the charger is that it's designed to work out a power socket in a vehicle also. Mighty handy to be able to charge up a spare set of cells while driving to the next cache.

 

The consumer Garmin GPSr's don't include a charging function (darn it!)

 

As far as using alkalines in a digicam, it generally isn't recommended. That has to do with the battery chemistry of alkalines, they don't give up the current like a rechargable or lithium cell does. I tired with mine, but got only 20 shots before the alkalines stopped functioning.

 

That Quack Cacher:

Lone Duck

 

When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there.

[+Geofool]

Here is a great sitefor information on NiMH batteries and chargers.

 

GF

 

********************************************

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[+EScout]

posted August 22, 2003 04:42 AM

Do NiMH recahrgeables last as long as alkalines??

 

In my Legend and Meridian, alkaline AAs seem to last longer than the Lenmar 2AH NiMH AAs I use. Just got a couple of Powerizer 2AH and they are somewhat better than the Lenmars.

[+Geofool]

Here is another ineresting site about NiMH batteries. The page may take some time to load.

 

GF

 

********************************************

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[+NimravusHSSR]

More important than battery capacity is the charger. A good charger will charge the battery to near capacity whereas a cheap one will not.

 

For example, the Rayovac 1-hour will charge batteries to about 80% capacity and ruin the life of the battery by about half due to the stress and heat. Here is a thread on how dangerous the Rayovac 1-hour is: Here And Here

 

A battery charger should have seperate processor and banks for each battery. If the charger has one bank for 2 batteries, what if one is more discharged than the other.

 

Lenmars Mach 1 Gamma chargers are good, so are MAHA chargers. If you want fully charged batteries, these 2 are the best of the best.

 

Anyway, a good place to read up and ask questions about batteries is HERE and click on the "Electronics Forum. Batteries Included"

 

[This message was edited by FlashMaster on August 23, 2003 at 03:24 PM.]

 

[This message was edited by FlashMaster on August 23, 2003 at 03:25 PM.]

[+Prime Suspect]

quote:

---

Originally posted by FlashMaster:

More important than battery capacity is the charger. A good charger will charge the battery to near capacity whereas a cheap one will not.

 

For example, the Rayovac 1-hour will charge batteries to about 80% capacity and ruin the life of the battery by about half due to the stress and heat.

---

That was true with the original Rayovac charger, but was quickly corrected. The new ones have the letter "B" after the model number. These have out for quite a while now. It's extremely unlikely any of the original models would still on the shelves. I've used mine heavily for at least a year, with no problems.

 

"Don't mess with a geocacher. We know all the best places to hide a body."

[+NimravusHSSR]

You still can't dump all that energy into a battery in one hour. Heat and stress are the biggest enemies of rechargeables. A good charger will not even make the batteries warm when charging.

 

The Rayovac 1-hour downright makes the batteries HOT, putting alot of stress on the batteries because it's a continuous charge. After about 45-60 minutes into the charge, put your hand on the batteries and you can't deny it's stressing the batteries ALOT.

 

Since batteries are cheap, even if their life is shortened to half it's not a big deal. My concern with the Rayovac is that it will start affecting the capacity. If you have 2100 mAH batteries and put it through 50 stressfull cycles, you'll be at 1800 mAH charges in no time. But like I said, batteries are cheap so if you keep replacing them every 100 charges or so your still saving tons of money.

[+RobRee]

do a search for powerex batteries and maha chargers. read all the reviews on these.. incl the cool charger. i have been using the powerex and maha combo at least a year for AA, AAA needs. we use them in gameboys, GPSrs, flashlights, and toys. they work flawlessly. remember heat kills batteries. they will get hot, but too hot is really bad.

 

for chargers and batteries!!!

 

---robbie

 

A family that Geocaches together... eventually gets wet.

 

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[+TeamCNJC]

I just purchased a set of new Rayovac 1800mAh AA batteries and charged them in my year-old 1-hour PS-4 charger, which I've used with 1600mAh AAs with no problem. Two of the new batteries got so hot the plastic on the outside shrunk and cracked. I contacted Rayovac customer service, and they're sending out new batteries and a new charge (and a prepaid label to return the old system) - no other questions asked.

 

If you've got an old PS-4 (non- charger, give Rayovac a call.

 

-Craig/TeamCNJC

 

... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took off through the thorns, chest high, ...

[+Stunod]

I've have the PS4-B and it works great for me. As Flashmaster says, the 1 hour cycle does do some harm to the batteries, but it's not a cost prohibitive problem. I've recharged close to 100 times and I haven't noticed any problems yet. For a cheap charger (I think Walmart sells them for about $30-$35) it works fine AND comes with a car power adaptor.

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

Eamus Catuli AC145895

[+roasteroo]

Of course rechargeables are worth it. I have 4 sets of 4 now and a Radio-Shack 13 hour charger.

From my experience with both of my magellan meridian units and rechargeables has been great. They usually last as long if not longer than alkalines, but you recharge them. I really like the 13 hour charger. The batteries never get hot. I think this is the key to it all. I get on average, 12 hours on all the sets of batteries. Only Panasonic Alkaline for digital batteries even come close to this. Most AA alkalines just get eaten in 5-7 hours in these machines. This is with the backlight off.

These are the batteries I have been using:

First set came with charger:

Radio Shack 1500 green in color. These work good.

Second set:

Rayovac 1600 These work a little better but not that noticeable.

Third set:

Energizer 1850 Worked the best. These were my favorite, and used them most often until.......

Fourth set:

NEXcell +2100 These are my new favorites. Almost fill the battery meter at full charge. Meter barely moved after a 10 hour hike the other day. I got these at a PHISH festival called IT for three bucks a piece. Show special. I wish I bought more than four. I was told they are 2200, but on them it says, min. 2000 mAh. But they are called +2100

Website on the battery:

http://nexcell-battery.com

I got them from www.sundancesolar.com

I have had a great experience with rechargeables and hope you all do too. Im not affiliated with any of these places, just a happy customer.

 

Slowcharge your batteries!

 

KARMA: Its everywhere you are going to be.

[+infosponge]

I've been using the Powerex 2200's and the Maha 401 charger for about a month now, and I've finally gotten weaned off my "buy AA's in bulk at the warehouse store" habit. I like that the 401 charger includes a car adapter so I can top off the cells in the car in a pinch. (haven't had to do it yet though)

 

My previous experiences with rechargables in my GPSR were maddening because it seemed like they'd give out with no warning with a short battery life, but things have come a long way since then.

 

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